Solar System Advantages/Disadvantage

fiestaman

Hi im woundering if anybody would know if there is an advantage to having a dry system solar tube like kingspan where you can change a tube without draining the system. i was looking a the firebird system and you would have to drain down the system to change a tube. i was thinking that if you had to change one that you could do it yourself if it was the dry system,kingspan are the only ones i seen that are like this but at €3300 for the whole kit inc stainless steel 300ltr tank compaired to €2600 for firebird system is it worth the extra €700??

ccsolar

Hi fiestaman
Kingspan do both a wet and dry system
Most suppliers of solar tubes now sell the heat pipe system which can be changed without draining the system.

Shop around for a good deal

Cc

quentingargan

There are other nuances here as well. "Direct flow" systems can be problematic in the event of a power failure because if they boil, they can drive fluid around the system. If you are going for the type that has fluid inside the tubes, the plumbing circuit needs to be designed by someone who understands this dynamic.

Personally I prefer systems that have generic tubes that can be replaced at low cost in the event of a breakage, or at the end of their service life.

fiestaman

quentingargan wrote: »

There are other nuances here as well. "Direct flow" systems can be problematic in the event of a power failure because if they boil, they can drive fluid around the system. If you are going for the type that has fluid inside the tubes, the plumbing circuit needs to be designed by someone who understands this dynamic.

Personally I prefer systems that have generic tubes that can be replaced at low cost in the event of a breakage, or at the end of their service life.

Any make you would recommend??

quentingargan

fiestaman wrote: »

Any make you would recommend??

Not publically on Boards. I'd be banned :~) Q

championc

fiestaman wrote: »

Hi im woundering if anybody would know if there is an advantage to having a dry system solar tube like kingspan where you can change a tube without draining the system. i was looking a the firebird system and you would have to drain down the system to change a tube. i was thinking that if you had to change one that you could do it yourself if it was the dry system,kingspan are the only ones i seen that are like this but at €3300 for the whole kit inc stainless steel 300ltr tank compaired to €2600 for firebird system is it worth the extra €700??

I have to say that's a good system. The kingspan certainly seems very good at collecting heat from the sun and transferring it via the heatpipe into the system. An advantage of the Kingspan over other systems is that it doesn't need a heatdump if it heats above the upper limit of the system.

Just make sure you buy the correct size system to match up to 300L. It's alot of water to be heated. My system is 30 tubes for 180L if that's of any help to you.

muffler

quentingargan wrote: »

Not publically on Boards. I'd be banned :~) Q

or worse